Arabic is the official language of the UAE.
English is used as the favorite medium of communication in the majority
of trade and commerce activities, along with Arabic. English is widely
spoken and understood in major cities of the UAE like Dubai, Abu Dhabi,
and Sharjah etc. Urdu, Hindi, and Farsi are other major languages in the
UAE. As a large number of expatriates are from the Indian
sub-continent, South East Asia, Africa and several other regions, you
will find people here speaking Bengali, Malayam, Punjabi, and Tagalog
too.

Postal ServicesPostal services will be
available only at main post offices between 9am and 1pm on Sunday, July
19, on the occasion of Al Israa Wal Miraj holiday.

The counters of
all other branches of Emirates Post will remain closed. However,
collection of mail from street boxes will be as usual. Collection and
delivery of mail will also continue at the post offices

To own a telephone number in the UAE, you
need to be atleast 21 or else if you are younger than that you will need
a letter of approval from your guardian. In addition to the age
requirement, you need to have a residence visa. The cost of a phone line
(landline connection) is Dhs. 200 and you will need to fill an
application form along with a copy of your passport, residence visa, and
property lease. A telephone line will normally take a maximum of two
working days to be installed, and you will pay a quarterly rental charge
of Dhs. 70. The same requirements required for obtaining a telephone
line apply for getting a mobile number (GSM), but the cost of obtaining a
number is Dhs. 320 and you will obtain your SIM card on the spot when
you apply.

The international code for the United Arab Emirates is
971. Area codes are 2 digits and telephone numbers are 7 digits. The
area code for Abu Dhabi is 02, Al Ain is 03, Dubai is 04, Sharjah and
Ajman is 06. Mobile numbers in the UAE begin with 050 followed by a 7
digit number. In order to dial a number in the UAE from abroad, the
additional 0 at the beginning of the area code should be excluded, while
dialing it locally the 0 should be kept. The same principle applies to
calling a mobile number from abroad.

Internet Access

Etisalat
has setup a division spefically to handle all internet issues and it is
known as the Emirates Internet & Multimedia (EIM) and is the United
Arab Emirates' only ISP. It has Internet acess services for Dialup,
ISDN, ADSL, and Cable. Internet webpages viewed in the UAE are routed
through the Emirates Proxy (proxy1.emirates.net.ae:8080) which blocks
sites that contain pornography, religious offensive material and
criticism of the rulers.